The present technique offers a wide variety of cables, ropes and cords intended for an equally wide variety of applications, and in particular it provides various types and models of composite cables and ropes, i.e. having a central inner core, usually metallic and of steel, that is covered with one or more outer layers or sheaths or coverings.
Despite this wide and varied range, the technology, currently available and applied, cannot be considered entirely free from limitations and drawbacks that deserve to be carefully analyzed in order to get to overcome them.
In particular, as a first consideration, it is observed how the present technique, in proposing covered and composite cables or ropes, has considered and taken into account only a relatively small and limited number of materials with which to make these outer layers and layers, thus ignoring numerous and special materials that the modern technology today makes advantageously available, among which there are cited, by way of example, the special materials known by the commercial names, corresponding to registered trademarks, Kevlar and Dyneema.
In this regard, it is noted, for completeness, that Kevlar is an aramid synthetic fiber, invented by DuPont, which has a high mechanical strength, so as to be, at the same weight, five times stronger than steel.
The Dyneema in turn is a synthetic fiber, invented by the company DSN and consisting of ultra high molecular weight polyethylene, which has a very high strength-to-weight ratio, up to fifteen times greater than that of steel.
Again it is observed that the ropes and cables of steel/metal, such as those usually used in the present technique, appear to be suitable conductors of both electric and electrostatic energy, whereby this characteristic may cause serious problems in certain applications where these phenomena of conduction of electric/electrostatic energy must be absolutely avoided.
Furthermore, the same cable or rope of steel, especially if not covered and protected externally, has the disadvantage, during his working life and at the time of its possible rupture, of constituting a potential cause of damage, such as cuts and/or abrasions, to the persons who work in its vicinity and usually come into contact with it.
The present technique also offers a wide variety of systems directed to provide safety and a possibility of anchoring and grip to an operator who has to operate in critical situations and potentially dangerous areas, for example move on the roof of a house or on a scaffolding of a building in construction, as well as to ensure security and protection against the risk of falling in certain sports and activities such as mountaineering and mountain climbing.
Among these known security and safety systems, many include, as an essential element suitable for providing safety to an operator, a cable or a rope, to which the same operator has the possibility to attach himself, for example via a spring-clip, and then remain firmly attached, while working on the roof, whereby the operator does not run the risk of accidentally falling from the roof where he moves and makes its job, but is in any event held by the cable.
In these known safety systems based on a cable or rope, the rope is usually installed on the structure, such as the roof, to make safe, so as to avoid the risk that an operator can fall from it, by using one or more support elements that support and bind the rope to define its path along the same structure.
However these support elements, in particular those arranged in the intermediate areas of the path of the rope, are usually configured so as not to block the rope, but simply to guide it while leaving it free to slide, whereby the rope, when it is pulled and urged by an operator attached to it, is subject to slide in the area of these support elements, with the consequent risk of creating situations of instability for the operator attached to the same rope.
Therefore, also here, there is to be noted that the known technique has some limitations and drawbacks, and that, moreover, it has in fact neglected and disregarded some interesting possibilities that instead deserve to be carefully considered and exploited more fully in order to improve the characteristics and performance of the safety and anchoring systems currently available, particularly those that include and are based on the use of a cable or a safety rope.
For example it is noted that the actual technique, in the field of safety systems, is based almost solely and exclusively on systems that comprise structures and elements welded together, or forged clamps to which it is possible to attach a safety rope of steel.
It follows that these known systems appear able to provide only a partial and incomplete safety to operators, whereby the risk of accidents, in particular of falls from an height, remains high.
In this regard, it is noted, as resulted from a recent survey, that 47% of accidents in the construction industry is represented by falls from a height, thereby confirming the fact that, despite the precautions and safety systems currently used, the problem persists and requires solutions more effective and efficient than the current ones.
Moreover, as a further consideration, it has to be pointed out that the current security and safety systems, at present available on the market, exhibit very different characteristics and peculiarities, often conflicting with one another, in terms both of their constructive and mechanical configuration and of the type of safety that they are capable of giving, thereby making rather difficult and problematic the selection, from a user, of which specific safety system he has to effectively adopt.
Summarizing, today there are available and known various safety systems that are made up of parts and elements welded together, for example of a bolt which is welded to a base plate, or that comprise forged elements, such as eyebolts or terminals for the passage of a rope of galvanized or stainless steel.
Yet, there are known safety systems including a cable or a rope which is installed and made to run along a structure, e.g. a roof, to be rendered secure against accidental falls of the people working on it, wherein the rope is supported and bound on that structure, while having the possibility of sliding, by means of one or more support elements.